Updated on 10th November 2021
Enjoy a hearty drink full of health benefits, this homemade hot chocolate with cacao powder features coconut oil, raw cacao powder, and dark chocolate. It's an anti-inflammatory hot chocolate recipe bursting with antioxidants...
Sweet dreams are made of this, you indulge in hot chocolate because it's holidays and be guilt-free! I bet you can. I've got for you this homemade hot chocolate with cacao powder. This homemade hot chocolate drink is an easy and very simple recipe.
Holidays are knocking at the door and you don't want to be left out without any chocolate treat. But you obviously don't want to go for one that's sickly sweet with synthetic sugar, right?
You have got this hot chocolate recipe that you can enjoy any time of the year because…
It's very healthy, sugar-free, dairy-free made with the BEST ingredients to give you a creamy hot dark chocolate drink that will make you chocoholic lol… Here's what I put in my delicious homemade hot chocolate:
- Dark chocolate with 70% cacao
- Raw cacao
- Baobab powder
- Hot water
- Coconut oil
Now, let's see why this hot dark chocolate is so good for you that you can have it almost every other day without jeopardizing your health.
5 Key Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate
Tell me, when I say "dark chocolate" what comes to your mind? I hope it's not dark "colored" vs white chocolate darling because we're really going to have problems here…
I am talking of intense dark chocolate, from 70% cacao and above. So no milk chocolate is allowed here, am sorry. Milk Chocolate comes with lots of sugar and saturated fats that you bet are very bad for your health.
The more cacao you have in that chocolate the healthier it is. The best way to choose good chocolate is by avoiding those where the 1st ingredient listed is sugar.
- Dark chocolate has been studied to be good in lowering your blood pressure, for your good mood and memory improvements. This kind of chocolate has proved to enhance feelings of calmness and contentment thus reducing depression and anxiety.
- This is because dark chocolate contains high amounts of polyphenols. Polyphenols are micronutrients with numerous health benefits.
- What about if I told you that you can drink hot dark chocolate to ease inflammation? It sounds outrageous, isn't it?
- Cacao powder contains epicatechin and dietary fiber. These are fermented by your gut microbiome to give an end product that has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Dark chocolate also enhances Nitric Oxide bioavailability and improves Mitochondria functions.
Raw Cacao.
- Please get me right, I said raw, which means it has not been heated. I also mentioned CACAO and not COCOA.
- Raw cacao powder is said to have undergone no processing and hence it holds more nutrients and phytochemicals like antioxidants, unlike cocoa powder that has undergone high heat treatment.
- It contains a high amount of dietary fiber, high Potassium, high Magnesium, and Iron than cocoa powder.
- Raw cacao has Pyrroloquinoline quinone, (PQQ), It's a micronutrient whose antioxidant protects your Mitochondria from dying.
- Mitochondria are the organelles that provide energy to your cells. PQQ stimulates the growth of new mitochondrial.
- PQQ is also anti-inflammatory and it protects your brain cells against oxidative stress.
Nutritional Benefits of Baobab powder
This might be new to you, but baobab has entered the world of "superfruits" and superfoods. Baobab is a good source of macro and micro-nutrients, amino acids, dietary fiber, and fatty acids. It's a healthy functional food as it can prevent and heal some diseases.
- Almost every part of the baobab tree is edible. This includes the leaves, fruit pulp, seeds, etc. It's the reason why the Baobab tree has been referred to as "the tree of life".
- Baobab powder is high in vitamin C than most other fruits and vegetables, it has higher concentrations of Potassium, Magnesium, Copper, and Manganese than most dry fruits like apricot, apples, bananas, and peaches.
- The presence of high vitamin C helps in the absorption of Iron in your body.
- Antioxidants such as flavonoids, ascorbic acid, tocopherols, and carotenoids have been found in baobab powder.
- Baobab dried fruit pulp is particularly high in pectin. Pectin is a major component of a plant's cell walls. Studies suggest that pectin is prebiotic which rebalances as well as promotes the growth of probiotic bacteria in your gut microbiome.
- Additionally, pectin prevents pathogenic bacteria from binding to the intestinal wall by chelating heavy metals.
Nutritional Benefits of Coconut oil.
- Well well, I will not ask you to abuse coconut oil, and you've to bear in mind that all coconut oils are not EQUAL!
- While I'll advise you on using virgin cold extracted coconut oil, I'll ask you shun processed oils in general, most oils are heated at high temperatures which makes them unhealthy for you.
- A spoonful of virgin coconut oil per day can help you raise your HDL (good) cholesterol which is known to lower the risk of Cardiovascular Disease.
- This is because unlike other saturated fat, coconut has Medium Chain Triglycerides. Meaning that these fats are absorbed by the liver immediately upon ingestion, thus being used as a source of energy.
- Coconut oil has been found useful to people who are suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, due to its antioxidants.
Make sure to preserve your cold-pressed coconut oil from oxidation, yes, you read right, if not stored well coconut oil can go bad.
Back to our homemade hot chocolate with cacao powder
After all those academic details, I need to fix myself a cup of this healthy hot chocolate drink…….
Now that I have my cup of hot chocolate, I can tell you it's really delicious, and oh yes, it's soothing!
I don't add any sweetener and am kinda feeling you ain't going to like this D-A-R-K CHOCOLATE that much if it's not something you're not accustomed to.
- Because you know, the higher the percentage of cacao you have in a bar of chocolate, the bitter the chocolate is and adding to it some raw cacao powder, you make it more bitter!
- So for you to enjoy this hot chocolate recipe, I recommend you add some natural sweetener, like stevia, coconut syrup, maple syrup, or even honey…. don't overdo it, please.
- The baobab powder adds some creamy texture and once you add some virgin coconut oil, you will definitely love the flavor that has a velvet kind of texture.
Am I hearing that question right? you're asking where you will get baobab from?
Check with local African-Indian shops, otherwise, you can buy online. Organic or not organic, Baobab trees have been there since the history of the world lol…
Am almost draining my cup of hot chocolate, so I guess I should be letting you go for now. Thank you for stopping by.
Hoping that you'll find value in this hot chocolate recipe and you'll enjoy your homemade hot chocolate with raw cacao powder.
You don't have to wait for the holidays to enjoy it...
Please do share this recipe & leave me a comment here below.
Talk to you soon,
I love you, Githu.
Homemade hot chocolate with cacao powder
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon cacao powder (more if you like raw cacao)
- 2 tablespoon boabab powder
- 2-3 pieces dark chocolate (75% cacao and above)
- 1-2 cups boiling water
- 2 teaspoon cold-pressed coconut oil
Instructions
- Bring water to a boiling point.
- Meanwhile, bring the cacao and baobab in a small saucepan and mix them together.
- Add some pieces of dark chocolate (the amount depends on your liking)
- Pour a little of the boiling water on the ingredients. Mix them to have a creamy texture.
- Add a little water at a time till you get a homogeneous drink.
- Put some virgin coconut in your mug.
- Transfer now the hot dark chocolate with cacao in the mug
- If you are not used to dark chocolate, please feel free to add some sweetener but don't overdo it.
- Now how does this taste? please leave me a comment. Thank you for sharing.
Notes
- Please note that if you are new to dark chocolate and cocoa powder, that they are strong and can be bitter in flavor.
- You can start with less intense chocolate but if you are seeking health benefits, then the darker the chocolate the better
Jane Saunders
I knew nothing about boabab until i spotted it in your hot chocolate - thanks for all that useful information. This drink sounds wonderful.
Githu
thank you Jane, I am happy you can now use baobab
Alexandra
Nothing beats a cozy and comforting cup of hot chocolate!
Amy
This sounds absolutely delicious and love that it can be done so quickly! Love that you used dark chocolate too so it's not so sweet as we find too much milk chocolate a bit too much. Will definitely be giving this a go!
Linda
Oh, coconut oil in hot chocolate? Now, this is something that I need to try asap.
Emily Flint
This hot chocolate recipe sounds so good!